While the media tries to make soccer into a real sport we are only three days away from the 2014 Tour de France a genuine test of men against men, men against nature, men against elements and men testing their own hearts and will.

Beyond the borders After taking off from the United Kingdom for a 20th Grand Départ abroad, the Tour de France will also go through Belgium and Spain.

A taste of Paris-Roubaix Before crossing the finishing line of the fifth stage in Arenberg Porte du Hainaut, the riders will have covered 15.4 kilometres of cobbled-stone sectors that are on the course of the Queen of Classics every spring.

After completing the 2012 Vuelta a España, Ji Cheng is the first Chinese cyclist to line up at the Tour de France. He's set to prepare the sprints for Marcel Kittel and John Degenkolb at Giant-Shimano. He'll celebrate his 27th birthday during the first rest day on July 15 in Besançon.

Ji hails from Harbin, a small city of 3.3 million people in the province of Hei Long Jiang in the far north east of China near the Russian border. Our normal climate in the winter is -36°C, he described. The record is -55°C but I've not experienced it personally. A son of a housewife and an interior designer, he comes from a family that contravened the one-child policy that once was enforced in the People's Republic of China. He has a sister and remembers that his parents got fined 3000 yuans (around 370 euros) for the birth of a second child.

At school, I was a runner and I always won, so I got a chance to enter a sport's school, the 26 year-old explained. In 2002, because it was still cold for running in April, I moved to cycling and started on a home trainer. Only one month later, I took part in my first competition on the road: 12 laps around Laoshan, the venue of the Beijing Olympics for track, BMX and MTB. It's been the hardest race in my life. I didn't even have cycling shoes. He was then assigned to track cycling for the 2005 China Games in Nanjing.

In 2006, I heard that Shimano wanted Chinese riders for their team in Europe, he recalls. They interviewed me and asked if I could cook by myself and speak English. I answered that cooking is my passion and I can learn English, so I joined Skil-Shimano in 2007 and I made Hengelo my home in the Netherlands. You can ask my team-mates: I'm the best chef in the team! My speciality is to cook coca-cola chicken wings.

When we started working with this young talent, explained Giant-Shimano's directeur sportif Rudi Kemna, we had a long term plan to make him reach the highest level of cycling and that's what he has achieved in playing an important role in the preparation of the sprints. Ji's usual contribution to the team work consists in pulling the bunch for lengthy hours. A worthy domestique, he's identified and sometimes nicknamed as the breakaway killer since he brought the bunch across to escapees on many occasions during the 2012 Vuelta a España at the service of John Degenkolb who won five stages. He also took part in 2013 Giro d'Italia but was forced to pull out with fever after five stages.

At Giant-Shimano, we know how to control the flat stages, he said. Even the riders from other teams like Lotto-Belisol come up to me sometimes and ask: hey Cheng, you're gonna pull?' It seems like everyone likes to follow me. I always ride at 75% of my possibilities, so on hard days, I can push more. I've learnt cycling in Europe. When I first arrived, I was shocked to see people sprinting to corners instead of braking. Chinese riders have a lot to learn here, technically and tactically.

Regularly followed by TV crews who produced documentaries on his participations to the Vuelta, the Giro and Paris-Roubaix, Ji feels like he's on a mission. I might not be the most talented cyclist from the country but I want to show everyone that a Chinese can also do the job providing that he acts as a professional, he continued. I'm doing these Grand Tours to give inspiration to my compatriots. What I've achieved so far has had some impact back home among the cycling fans but my participation to the Tour de France is gonna be massive for China.

16
posted on 07/02/2014 12:44:31 PM PDT
by Baynative
(How much longer will the media be able to prop up this administration?)

Finished my math homework last night and sat down to channel flick on the TV to cool the brain cells.

Clicked onto 50 and there was some guys on bikes - I was like Crap, that’s a prelim stage of the Tour. Boy did that sneak up on me.

Team Bus got stuck under the finish sign with the riders 10k out, 6k still stuck race officials said photo finish at 3k, riders “What does that look like?” At 5k they got the bus out and said regular finish, crash - top three sprinters are out, crash - another group is out.

The last 30 minutes were crazy last night.

19
posted on 07/02/2014 12:52:58 PM PDT
by PeteB570
( Islam is the sea in which the Terrorist Shark swims. The deeper the sea the larger the shark.)

We have idiots practising for that all year ‘round here in Tucson. They are a hazard to drivers and think they own the G..damn roads! They crowd the edges of the bike lanes and dare you to hit them. Like the nasty nanny they seem to be looking for a way to hit it big with a lawsuit.

23
posted on 07/02/2014 1:02:04 PM PDT
by Don Corleone
("Oil the gun..eat the cannoli. Take it to the Mattress.")

The odds makers have Chris Froome as the favorite, especially with Bradley Wiggens having been dropped by Skye. Richie Porte is back to support him. He's a guy I think could go it alone if need be. Maybe this will take on a little of the soap opera that went on with Pedro Delgado and Miguel Indurain.

Rui Costa is highly rated but, just had a stellar performance in Switzerland and might have peaked too soon. Contador is back and clean (so they say), so who knows?.

We'll soon see. As they say, "That's why they have the race".

27
posted on 07/02/2014 1:09:33 PM PDT
by Baynative
(How much longer will the media be able to prop up this administration?)

Here is a cute story since we are still waiting for the Tour to begin. A couple I ride with went to the final stage of the Tour of California this year. After the race they encountered Jens Voigt sitting on a curb being interviewed. They said the interviewer asked him something that made him mad, and one of the things he replied was, “That would be like telling Obama his health care thing is good.” The quote is the way it was explained to me. Anyway, the interviewer was escorted away, and they walked up to say hi. Voigt told them he would autograph anything they had, just don’t ask him to stand up. They didn’t have anything to offer, so they asked him to sign their one-year-old’s shirt. Voigt jumped up, signed the shirt, then spent a few moments playing with the child. I don’t think that kid will ever wear that shirt again.

I have a buddy who’s an avid cyclist (I have to confess I was the world’s slowest Cat 3 for 15 years as well), who traveled to France in the 80’s and drove up to the Arenberg Forest section of the P-R course. He got his bike out of the car, took one look at the pave (a dry beautiful day) and put it back in.

Anytime you want to saddle up and have a go at slowest Cat3, just say the word. I had more DFLs than I like to remember and considered just finishing in the pack in Cat3 an accomplishment.

I worked my way up over time through combined Cat4 and Masters 40+ 4/5. I was never a threat in road races with serious climbs because of my size, but I was always competitive in Cat4 Crits and ITT. My mates enjoyed that I could hammer in the wind.

I kind of think Cat3 is just a quick step for Pro1/2 riders to get in a better mix of competition and only guys over 35 stay there for awhile. In one of my early Cat3 circuit races I was completely spit out and abandoned so I didn't have to ride past the finish stand all alone. The humiliation sucked. I couldn't imagine not being able to suck wheels in a 60 rider bunch with no real climbing.

But there was a sliver lining. Our club had been working on bring more people into competition and we had some good younger riders who were capable of giving it a go. I was able to down grade to Cat5 and ride with them as a "coach on course". Those races were honestly the best times I had in USCF.

42
posted on 07/02/2014 5:51:58 PM PDT
by Baynative
(How much longer will the media be able to prop up this administration?)

I love mountain stages with finishes at the top. I've always thought that after several hard climbs a daredevil descender shouldn't be able to chase down the leaders. Yes, I know descending is a tough game, but that's the way I think.

Regardless of where the race stands after stage 16, 17 and 18 can change it all. Stage 17 has four hard climbs stuffed into just 124K. After 50K on the road it will be a brutal tactical couple of hours. If that's not enough, the next day is Col du Tourmalet, and Hautacam in 145K. There will be no pretending on either of these short stages.

43
posted on 07/02/2014 7:02:25 PM PDT
by Baynative
(How much longer will the media be able to prop up this administration?)

I love mountain stages with finishes at the top. I've always thought that after several hard climbs a daredevil descender shouldn't be able to chase down the leaders. Yes, I know descending is a tough game, but that's the way I think.

TV viewers will feel like being in the middle of the peloton of the Tour de France with revamped graphics, improved air relay and on-board cameras on bicycles this year. The race will be even better to watch!

TEN STAGES WITH FULL LIVE COVERAGE, 90 HOURS IN TOTAL

The 2014 Tour de France will be broadcasted more than the previous one hundred editions of the race as ten stages will be seen in full, which is one more than last year. Ninety hours of live coverage will be supplied to the broadcasters, including the three English stages with an exceptional programming on ITV, simultaneously on ITV1 (UK's number 2 TV channel) and ITV4.

TV viewers will have access to more relevant information thanks to revamped graphics in the live footage. For instance, the slope's gradient will appear during mountain stages. In other circumstances, the strength and direction of the wind will be visible on screen, as well as the instant measure of the riders' speed. Coming close to the finishing line, the remaining distance will be calculated every hundred meters and the maximum speed of the sprinters will be timed by radar. Riders' positions will also be tracked by satellite throughout the race.

Onboard cameras are commonly used in motor sports. They'll make their debut at the Tour de France in a trial over three weeks of racing. Every day, four riders from two different teams will carry an ultra-light camera. They'll turn it on themselves as they'll approach the key moments of the race. After each stage, a video will be edited, published on letour.fr and available for team's websites and broadcasters.

45
posted on 07/03/2014 7:25:14 AM PDT
by Baynative
(How much longer will the media be able to prop up this administration?)

One of the things I like that Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme has done is the elimination of the stupid and worthless ultra short Prologue TT that was used to set the GC.

By opening with a medium long road race through rolling hills on a potentially windy course team play comes out strong at the beginning. It sort of throws the Yellow Jersey up for grabs and means that it can change hands a few times before the road tilts up.

Then with a 54K TT before the final day it puts the pressure to perform on the shoulders of the leader. I think it makes for asphalt drama.

...and speaking of drama, let's not forget those cobbles

46
posted on 07/03/2014 7:44:57 AM PDT
by Baynative
(How much longer will the media be able to prop up this administration?)

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